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These posts come from visits to reservations and urban-Indian communities. Look for my book, "American Apartheid: The Native American Struggle for Self-Determination and Inclusion," coming In spring 2018.

Nevada Billionaires Have Equal Rights—But Not Natives—Paiutes Charge

This article first appeared on Indian Country Today Media Network in September 2016.

Nevada tribal members are effectively disenfranchised by the long distances they must travel to vote.

Chairmen Bobby Sanchez and Vinton Hawley,
of the Walker River and Pyramid Lake Paiute tribes, respectively, are
plaintiffs in a major new voting-rights lawsuit, filed in federal court
in Nevada. They are joined by three military veterans from their communities:
Ralph Burns, Robert James and Johnny Williams, Jr. “We know that these veterans have already paid for the
equality we seek for all our people,” the two chairmen announced in a joint
public statement.

The lawsuit follows the rejection of tribal requests to
Nevada’s chief elections official, Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske and two
counties for full access to national elections, including reservation satellite
offices for registration and early and Election Day voting. According to the
plaintiffs, Walker River
Paiute Tribe voters must currently travel 70-some miles round trip to register
and early vote in the Mineral County seat, while Pyramid Lake voters have a 96-mile
round trip to the Washoe County seat, along with limited Election Day voting.

The rejection “is an apparent effort to
dilute Indian voting strength,” the plaintiffs allege. As such, they say, it violates
Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, as well as the U.S. and Nevada
constitutions. Both tribal chairmen called for a Justice Department
investigation.

Lawsuit defendants include Cegavske and
county election officials. The county officials cited the difficulty of complying
with the request in time for the election. “Their inconvenience has nothing to
do with the voting rights of Native voters,” said OJ Semans, Rosebud Sioux
director of Four Directions voting-rights group, which is assisting the
plaintiffs.

Washoe County already has 22
early-voting locations, but has placed all of them in non-Native communities,
noted University of Utah political science professor Daniel McCool in an expert
report for the plaintiffs. This makes casting a ballot even easier for those
who already have full access, he wrote: “I did not find any evidence that the
county has ever provided early voting sites to the poorest [and most remote] people
in the county—the Pyramid Lake Paiute.” Voting by mail is fraught with errors
and not a viable alternative, according to McCool.

Some of Washoe County’s primarily white
communities are exceptionally wealthy, with homes on Lake Tahoe that can cost
many millions of dollars. “Tribal members, whose income may be less than one-one-hundredth of the Lake Tahoe billionaires’, travel long distances to vote in Nevada. That’s
assuming they have a vehicle and gas money,” said Semans. “The burdens
exacerbate the inequality.”

Native poverty and the state’s longtime violence and discrimination
against tribal members provide a context for the suit that “is not a pretty
history,” McCool added.

Separately from the lawsuit, Four
Directions has charged that emails the organization received, along with
conversations with county officials, indicate that the secretary of state and
counties used a recent teleconference to “get on the same page,” as one
official put it, and forestall Native equality. “If one county gave in, more
would have to,” said Healy.

Not so, said the Secretary Cegavske’s public information officer, Kaitlin
Barker: The teleconference to discuss the tribal requests was
normal procedure, to “promote uniform application of federal and state election
laws.” Because of the lawsuit, Barker said, the secretary of state’s office would not comment further.Text and photographs c. Stephanie Woodard.

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I am a long-time writer on human rights and culture, with a focus on Native American issues. Recognition for my articles includes the Richard LaCourse Award for Investigative Reporting from the Native American Journalists Association, of which I am an associate (non-Native) member, and numerous other grants and awards from major journalism organizations. I am a contributing writer for publications covering politics and the arts. During two decades in magazines, I was an editor at national consumer magazines.